


Time (Never) Slowed

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Abduction, Aftermath of Violence, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Angst and Tragedy, Brotherhood, Canon-Typical Violence, Mid-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 16:18:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2157150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He had fled like a coward. He had left his brother defenseless. In four irreversible seconds, Raph had realized that he was losing him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time (Never) Slowed

Everything happened so quickly. Raph remembers reading many books where the battle scenes, at some point or other, involved the words “time slowed”. Why does everyone think it’s true?

 

He was used to fighting with Leo; all through their childhood it had been round and round and round until Donnie was trying to shout above them, telling them to stop, and Mikey was crying in a corner in the most pitiful way imaginable and neither of them noticed until it was too late.

Don and Mike weren’t there, so there was absolutely nothing in the way. For once Raph could show Leo just how powerful he was, how he could be the champion for once. In his pride, he had taken the chance despite Leo’s warning—

“Don’t do this, Raph.”

—No, because of it. Every move would have been a blur to the outside viewer, but Raph knew them by heart, shouting them mentally, telling him to be faster, stronger, better than his brother would ever be. It fueled his rage when Leo parried him because it was then that he knew Leo wasn’t even trying. He had been trying when he was fighting the Nightwatcher, but when he was fighting Raphael, he took it easy on him.

 _He doesn’t take me seriously. He doesn’t think I’m threat; he never has!_ Raph’s mind bellowed furiously, bringing a fire to his veins. Before he knew what was happening, he had caught Leo’s katanas between the prongs of his sais and was straining, forcing them down, forcing their wielder down with them.

 _I—will—defeat—him_ , Raph swore viciously just before the katanas snapped. Leaping into the air, he had kicked Leo to the ground, pinning him there and slamming the blade of one sai down next to him, staking the ground and the victory as his own.

With teeth bared he had glared hatefully down at his prey, searching for the fear that he wanted. It had been there just a second ago, so it had to be there still! He wanted to see it in its entirety; he wanted to drink it in. But it was gone. Leo’s expression was one of grim inquiry, the words shining in his eyes:

“Have you come this far?”

Raph’s hand was still wrapped tightly around the handle of the sai in the ground. It loosened against his will, as did his own expression of rage. It became confusion first, then doubt, and then dread. _Had_ he truly come this far? He was supposed to be fighting evil and here he was with a blade mere millimeters from his brother’s head.

What was the purpose of this? Raph had lost it somewhere in Leo’s face, so he fled, wondering if he could catch it again once he put some distance between them. The rain had thickened, pounding into his skin and deafening him to everything but his own heavy breathing...

...and the tormented, terrified scream that echoed across the sky and forced him to a backpedal halt, forced the name from the pit of his stomach and the realization behind it into his mind.

“Leo!”

He had fled like a coward. He had left his brother defenseless. In four irreversible seconds, Raph had realized that he was losing him.

 

He’s kneeling in a puddle on the cold stone ground of an alley, unable to recover from the cry of anguish he’s just released. His thoughts are ticking away faster than the seconds are, each sentence strung together as one:

_What have I done—I left him without weapons, too tired to fight back—Who knows what they’re going to do to him—I’ve torn the family apart—I have to find him, I have to bring him home—WHAT HAVE I DONE!_

Something small and long-forgotten breaks free from Raph’s throat, followed by another. It’s almost like gagging (which Raph can appreciate; he feels like he’s about purge at any moment), but more childlike, more like the sound that would always bring his big brother over to hug him when they were young.

But time never slows down, not even for memories. Right now that brother is being taken further and further away and Raph knows that even if someone else were present, no one but Leo would be able to quiet his sobs.

_What have I done...?_


End file.
